


Not This Time

by victoria_is_dun



Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Absent Parents, Abuse, High School AU, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Peterick, Ryden, Suicide Attempt, bullied, bullyingawareness, fair weather josh, fuckboy pete for sure, josh is actually pretty innocent and doesnt want to hurt anyone, josh isnt really a bully he just kind of is friends with the bully, joshler - Freeform, senior josh, senior mikey, sophomore brendon, sophomore tyler, the notes arent related to the story at all really, tyler is a little badass, unfinished work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-09
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-01-31 05:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12675639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoria_is_dun/pseuds/victoria_is_dun
Summary: Tyler was a target. Josh was a bystander.





	1. N

Tyler never knew a world without danger. By danger he meant stealing a candy bar at the nearest convenience store and feeling like the next John Dillinger, and possibly skipping a class or two. He wasn’t the most daring or the smartest, but Tyler managed to get by. ‘Getting by’ wasn’t very hard in Columbus, at least not in his school. Tyler’s motto was that people will only get you down if you let them, so willpower was one of his strongest points. Someone could spit in his face and Tyler would smile, wipe his cheek and smile back like he’d just gotten what he wanted for Christmas.

Tyler was not one to start a fight. Despite this apparent gift of charm and wit, Tyler managed to get tangled up in many different things in his sixteen years on the planet known as Earth. Besides making his little sister cry by hitting her with a popsicle in ninth grade, he hadn’t done much bad.

Tyler was a man of God, willing to teach the kids and even sing in the choir. But, this made him a target where he grew up. Not just the fact that school systems tend to find a way to screw up anyone who dares to be different than the last year’s group of fresh meat, but also that despite his accomplishments at the church, he had something under his belt that drew a line in the sand.

_He was gay._

It wasn’t a huge part of his identity, not even a small part of it. Tyler still had the same amount of enthusiasm as the other youth teachers, same experience, and same willingness to feel like he belonged somewhere. He wouldn’t say that his church was unaccepting, because it wasn’t, it was more of the parents. You would think that there would be more maturity in the adults than there was in the children, but that was the exact opposite.

They spoke of Tyler like he wasn’t even there, and a few even had expressed their fears of Tyler ‘spoiling’ the children with his ways. As if Tyler would willingly speak about what he believed to be something that he could never say in front of impressionable children. But these aren’t the bullies that affected Tyler the most. These adult bullies weren’t as bad because he only saw them once a week and they were considered as rude for picking on someone who wasn’t their own size. Tyler knew that both him and his brother, Zack, believed that God loved you no matter what. As long as you confessed your sins, and gave your life to him, there was no need to worry. They were still bullies, but not ones that could hurt him in the same ways as the others did.

These other bullies were _far, far, far_ worse.

Tyler couldn’t escape them, not even if he tried.

They were everywhere that he was, all day, and all night. They followed him like a lost puppy through school, through the house, through his dreams. They were cookiecutter sharks attached to his back feeding off lies; lies that told Tyler everyday that he needed to try harder, that he wasn’t good enough. Those bullies were something that Tyler called his own thoughts. They coupled so well with the physical bullies that tormented him in the flesh, because they fed off the things that were injected into Tyler’s head by the physical bullies. Nobody is born believing that they’ll never be happy, that they’ll never reach the things that they want, that they’ll never see what it’s like to feel complete. Those thoughts are like a cancer, a plague that multiplies over time and slowly rots someone away. They always have a cause, always have a start, and that start wasn’t even Tyler’s fault.

And that start was Tyler taking a stand.

~~**✗** ~~

Under the dull light of morning, Tyler stirred awake. It took him a monstrous amount of time to get up in the morning. This was due to the hour long pep talk he needed every morning in order to get himself in the mood to be a human that day. But this was the Tyler that nobody saw, the Tyler that was weak. The Tyler that everyone saw was the Tyler that he preferred to be. But that one took a while to show up.

He slowly managed to haul himself out of bed, already feeling like he didn't want to go to school today. Perhaps that was just something that everybody felt, especially in high school. Tyler didn't want to go because of what awaited him. It was the same everyday, and the only changes were ones for the bad. The only changes were ones that ripped him down even further, screamed at him that he wasn't worth it. He was a fag, pathetic, dirty, hell-bound, disgusting. The sting wasn't as painful as it used to be, since Tyler decided that people can only hurt you if you let them. Tyler made the conscious decision to try it out as best as he could. Their words don't matter, they don't matter when it comes to what you think about yourself.

Was that what the anti-bullying videos told him to do?

But Tyler’s morning pep talk was over. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time to spare.” Zack knocked on the closed door and spoke with an annoyed tone, signaling that Tyler needed to hurry up.

Letting out a dismissive sigh, Tyler rose to his feet and mumbled something that sounded like a response. The sound of Zack’s footsteps going back down the attic stairs was the sound of relief. Tyler threw on a grey hoodie to mask that fact that he’d been wearing the same clothes that he fell asleep in last night, and he was out the door. Zack followed close behind, distracted by his phone as he supposedly texted his latest ‘girlfriend’, which meant someone that he’d been screwing behind his real girlfriend’s back. Tyler had learned to just turn his head and take a bite of his toast and strawberry jelly.

It was easier than to feel bad for people.

“I had to cancel your therapy appointment this weekend,” Zack broke the silence with a comment that made Tyler turn his head in disbelief. “Don’t blame me. Absent parents didn’t send me enough money this month. We need to eat, not pussy around with someone who is paid to care for you.” The older Joseph brother added, starting the car and turning around to reverse.

The youngest Joseph brother had probably never felt as much disdain as he had in that moment. Tyler reached forward and grabbed a hold of the stick shift of the car, putting the car into park. This was a sign that this conversation was not over.

“Hey! What the hell, dude?” Zack growled, throwing his hands up in the air as the car jolted to a stop. Tyler pointed his finger scornfully, his voice full of so much anger that it was a surprise that a boy that small for his age could carry so much.

“You do not have the choice of how I can feel. It’s my therapy and my choice, not yours.” He corrected. However, his words went on deaf ears as Zack stared without a hint of emotion. Without so much as another word, Zack shrugged and shifted back into reverse, starting on his way to drive Tyler to school. Staring down at his shaking hands, Tyler bit his lip and suppressed the pure rage that he felt at the moment. He’d rather let the dispute end and get over it then keep it going. Tyler didn’t like to get into any conflict with his only family that he had left. There was nobody left to love him than his older brother, so Tyler was going to keep it that way.

Thankfully, the argument came to a quiet close, and Tyler slipped on his headphones to make it easier to ignore the horrific metal music that his brother liked to play. Time passed by much quicker when he was in his own lala land, and soon enough Zack was urging him to get out of the car. Tossing the straps of his drawstring bag over his shoulder, Tyler got out and started to run towards his group of friends that were gathered near one of the trees outside school. A smile almost immediately graced Tyler’s face as he approached, and he greeted the nearest person in the group. It was a freshman who Tyler had just met this year, adorned in a fedora and a nice vest.

Patrick Stumph was probably the sweetest and innocent kid in the group, and it was almost like a game to the oldest, Brendon Urie, to spoil that innocence. Now Brendon was the exact opposite with his sidekick and boyfriend, Ryan. They were the professionals at making babies cry with their horrific deeds. Those deeds included the horrible crimes of giggling when the health teacher said ‘penis’ or making obscene gestures across the classroom when the teacher finally separated them.

The final additions to the odd group was Pete Wentz and Gerard Way. They had come from the same school, which was why they ended up close. However, it was entertaining to watch how much Pete changed when he was around Patrick. Bad boy gone good, for lack of a better term.

“There he is!” Brendon exclaimed, his demeanor warm and welcoming. He gave a quick side-hug to Tyler, smiling happily and patting Tyler’s back. “My little superstar.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “Bolt will never be remade and I need you to realize that before some Disney producer breaks your heart.” He responded jokingly.

Brendon gasped, seeming to take great offense to such disastrous news. “They will and you can’t convince me otherwise. Bolt was a beautifully done movie with an emotional storyline and they’d be stupid to not-” He stopped mid-sentence as he attempted to warn Tyler. The warning obviously didn’t come quick enough, because one moment Tyler felt air, and the other he felt concrete. Knocked completely off balance by a powerful shove to his shoulder, he crumpled to the ground with a wheeze. Almost immediately Tyler was scrambling back to his feet, but humiliation was already strong in the situation.

“Nice interest in Disney movies, fag.” A senior snickered as he walked away with his goons following behind, their laughter unmistakable. However, this senior wasn’t just _any_ senior. His name was Mikey Way, and he was actually Gerard’s brother. Gerard had practically disowned him due to the fact that the only thing that Mikey did was harass him and his friends. The worst part was that Mikey’s favorite to torment was Tyler.

Maybe it was the fact that Tyler had been involved in the wonderful plan of Gerard’s to sabotage Mikey’s first date with a bottle of Liquid Ass and a whoopee cushion.

Girls are very gullible when it comes to stuff like that. And boys get fucking pissed over stuff like that.

The sophomore was holding back tears as he felt the sting of the scraped skin of his hands burn harshly. “Are you okay?” Patrick fretted as he helped Tyler up, his hazel eyes wide with shock and concern. “Do you need to go to the nurse?” Tyler wasn’t really focused on what Patrick was saying, due to the fact that Tyler had been staring at one of the goons a little too long. And second that this boy was staring at him back.

Was that sympathy Tyler was seeing?

However, the moment was over quickly as the pink-haired boy turned away to follow the rest of the group of seniors. Tyler shook his head, wiping his eyes feverishly. “I’m fine.” He grumbled, brushing off the dust that clung to the fabric of his hoodie. He truly was fine, but there was another feeling that was creeping up on him.

Tyler could feel the growing desire to be known by this boy who dared to take a glance back.


	2. O

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahHHhhhhHh i finally finished this fucking chapter. it isn’t very long and jumps around a bit but it’s required for forwarding stuff in the story. thank u for being patient <3 please comment and kudos if you want more!!

“What are you talking about? There’s no way that he would look back.” Gerard exclaimed. Almost instantly, Tyler’s hand flew over the other boy’s mouth, ushering him to talk quieter. Rolling his eyes, Gerard complied and whispered, “He’s practically Mikey’s right hand man. Grade-A asshole and heir to the throne. He comes over all the time with the rest of Mikey’s retarded goons.”

“But he did look back, G. I saw it with my own eyes! He looked almost like.. he regretted what had just happened, y’know? I swear to God!” Tyler responded, holding a tissue to his nose to suppress the bleeding that was beginning to slow.

Gerard shook his head. “Even if he did, you don’t want to get into that crowd. They torment you, they make life Hell for anyone different than them. You swore that you’d never do anything with one of them ever again, especially after what happened to Dallon.” The redhead’s voice tightened at the mention of Dallon. Tyler glanced down at the floor, realizing that Gerard was right. Dallon was a freshman last year, but he didn’t even last until third semester. Rumors stated that he’d gotten pulled out of public school for the bullying that Mikey and his gang had caused. At that time, Tyler was a part of it. Tyler then figured out once he’d gotten his act straight that Dallon had actually killed himself. He wasn’t sure that Brendon would ever forgive him.

“Yeah.. you’re right. I was just curious, I guess.” Tyler responded tartly, glancing down at his lap.

The conversation died down as Gerard focused back on his homework assignment, bouncing his leg in concentration. Tyler rested his head in his arms on the table, watching Gerard’s pencil move as he wrote rather speedily. He let out a bored sigh, taking out his phone and pulling up a text.

Brrng.

Gerard put down his pencil for a second and reached into his backpack, retrieving his phone and checking the notification. His gaze immediately shot to Tyler, who was giggling under his breath. Gerard began typing.

Brrng.

Tyler opened the text.

You’re fucking stupid.  
Tyler snorted with laughter, glancing back at his phone. He was about to send Gerard another text when he received one from his brother.

I’m on my way. Get your ass out where I can see you. -Z

He frowned. “Brother’s almost here. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tyler said, waving as he gathered his stuff and left the library. Gerard nodded in acknowledgement, waving back before looking back down at his work.

Tyler had to stand out front of the school to wait. Zack always complained if he wasn’t right out front since it could be hard to find him otherwise in the mess of students. Thankfully, the crowd had died down due to the fact that Tyler had stayed for Study Hall, giving him time to wait out the sea of other kids.

Like a signal of incoming doom, Tyler could smell the waft of cigarette smoke well before Mikey could be seen. He pressed his back further into the brick wall of the school behind him, pulling up his hood hastily in an attempt to mask his identity. He was silently praying that Zack would get here sooner with every ounce of his being. Tyler’s hood was ripped off his head and he saw someone standing in front of him out of the corner of his peripheral vision. He kept his head low, not wanting to start anything.

“I suggest you look at me while I talk to you, fag.” Mikey snapped, a couple chuckles coming from his goons as they surrounded Tyler. Tyler’s lower lip rolled into his mouth nervously, but he looked up anyway, meeting the intense mocha gaze of the older boy. A weasel smirk crossed Mikey’s face slyly, and he took the cigarette out of his mouth. Tyler only flinched a little as he felt foul tasting smoke fan over his face. He let out a small cough, his body rejecting the stench. “You’re lucky that you had your little friends today. I could have beat your ass right in front of the whole school right then and there. My number one piece of advice is to never be a hero, give in, and maybe you’ll turn out like Brendon’s pussy boyfriend Dallon. Maybe you should take a hint from him when I say that you’re not welcome here. Not after your betrayal. This isn’t some teen movie where the little boy can stand up to his bullies, this is reality.” Mikey growled, shoving Tyler’s chest aggressively. He got no reaction, however, and Tyler could instantly see that this pissed him off.

“You’re not going to beat me in whatever game you’re trying to play, Mikey. I thought you’d know that this isn’t a game. It’s reality.” Tyler mocked, his tone managing to stay level and calm. He knew that it was probably a mistake to fight back at all, and it was answered almost immediately as the situation turned physical. Mikey grabbed a fistful of Tyler’s grey hoodie, raising his other hand to strike. Tyler squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see it before it happened. He felt one of the strongest hits that he’d ever felt in his life, rattling his brain in his skull and forcing all the breath out of his lungs in one forceful punch. One was enough to finish Tyler, because after things became physical Tyler tended to just give up. He had no power over the situation at that point. He wasn’t strong enough to fight back, neither physically or mentally. One eye clamped shut in pain, Tyler managed to barely open the other just in time to see the second strike.

After that, it was darkness.

 

  
Tyler woke up to a concerned voice asking if he was okay. He was immediately slammed with a massive headache, and he moaned in pain. Blinking tears out of his eyes, Tyler was able to catch a peek at who was there. As he expected, Gerard, Brendon, and Zack were all gathered around him. Zack was knelt by him as Gerard and Brendon looked on anxiously.

“Hey, Ty. You good? Can you hear me?” Zack’s voice sounded distorted, but Tyler was able to scarcely make out what he was saying.

“His nose is bleeding again.” Brendon pointed out.

“Again? What happened?”

Gerard frowned. “The same thing happened this morning too, but he didn’t get completely knocked out. Last time they just kind of shoved him to the ground..” He explained, sympathy ridden in his tone.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?” Brendon asked frantically.

“N-no.. I’m fine..” Tyler muttered, slowly sitting up. He could feel the warm drip of blood down his face, and there was a few droplets that stained his originally grey hoodie. He felt so weak, and he could sense the same thought coming from Zack. His little brother was probably the most pussy person ever, and that made Tyler feel even worse. “I just n-need a second to breathe.” Tyler blinked rapidly, the headache worsening as tears began to fall involuntarily from his reddened eyes.

It surprised Tyler, but Zack opened his arms in invitation for a hug. Tyler was hesitant at first, but he accepted it nonetheless. He wasn’t sure why, but he began to cry harder. Gripping the back of Zack’s leather jacket, he buried his face into his older brother’s shoulder and allowed himself to cry. “Come on, let’s get home.” Zack whispered, adopting a soothing tone in replacement of his normally harsh voice. He slid an arm under Tyler’s legs, heaving the younger male up to carry him. “Do you guys need a ride or are you good?” Zack added questioningly, glancing over at the two boys who were standing and watching.

Gerard shook his head. “No, Brendon can drive me home. Just.. Just make sure Tyler lets us know if he’s okay when he gets all fixed up.” He said, a sad smile on his face.

“Alright. I’ll see you guys later then. I gotta’ get him home. Take care, kiddos.” Zack responded with a smile in return, approaching his car. He carefully loaded Tyler in the front seat, then entering on the opposite side himself. Tyler closed his eyes, exhausted from everything that had happened in one day. It was tiring to deal with all of it, especially at this school. He couldn’t wait to graduate, even if that meant another two years.

He could do it.

Tyler must have fallen asleep, because he stirred back awake to Zack talking to him. “Come on, I have to clean you up really quick. Then you can go to bed.” Zack murmured, setting Tyler on the closed toilet in the bathroom. Tyler nodded weakly, crossing his legs and leaning back a little.

Zack grabbed a first aid kit from the medicine cabinet under the sink, setting it on the bowl of the sink. “Do you have anything serious? Or is it just bruises?” He asked, tugging at the hem of Tyler’s hoodie for him to remove it. Tyler hesitantly did so, scared of Zack’s possible reaction. Just as he thought, Tyler saw Zack’s expression change for a second.

“Do you need me to change those too?” His voice lowered a pitch, and he carefully took one of Tyler’s thin arms in his grip, referring to the bandages on the undersides of his arm. Tyler glanced up, shame making his ears red. He nodded, deciding that he shouldn’t hide from the only family that he had left.

Zack did what Tyler asked in silence, not once mentioning the fresh marks that scattered the young teen’s left arm. He had already seen this before, and he had no reasons to lecture anymore. It was Tyler’s decision, and Zack didn’t want to intrude. He wasn’t the parent, he was only meant to just keep Tyler from dying. That was his responsibility.

Once he was all patched up, Zack dismissed him to his room. “Head up and sleep, that’s the only other way to heal quick. G’night, Ty.” He said quietly, pointing upstairs for a second before refocusing back on the first aid kit as he cleaned everything up.

Tyler nodded again, standing up and trudging over to the stairs. He walked up to his attic bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him out of habit. Once the coast was clear, Tyler couldn’t help but break a second time. It didn’t last very long, but under the cover of his blankets and behind a locked door, Tyler was able to cry. It felt strange to do it again after so long of forcing himself to stay strong, but Tyler cried himself to sleep that night without even staying awake long enough for dinner.


	3. T

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry that i've been so absent lately. i haven't really had much motivation to write at all and school was kicking my ass. i had two F's and a lot of fucking stress to fix them before grades were posted. and this year started kind of shitty, so, that helped. anyway enough about my life hope you enjoy this decently long chapter.

The rest of Tyler’s week was bland. Zack allowed him to stay out of school for the two remaining days as long as he promised to make up what he missed. He slept until ten thirty on Sunday, worn out from the night before of late night gaming with Gerard and Brendon. They had forced him to stay awake by shouting into the microphone everytime Tyler began to get sluggish with his CSGO gameplay.

 

He woke up to Zack abruptly shaking his shoulder. “Come on, we got church today. I let you sleep in, so we have to go to late service.” He said, sounding just the same as he always did. The brother that had hugged him and fixed Tyler up only days before was gone just as he expected, and the Zack that Tyler knew had returned.

 

“O-okay.. I’m up.” Tyler muttered, swatting away Zack’s hand in annoyance as he ran a couple fingers through his messy brunette locks. He heard Zack mumble something under his breath, but he left promptly, leaving the door open so he could hear if Tyler actually got up. Once the footsteps had gone all the way down the stairs, Tyler heaved himself out of bed. He tossed on a pair of white jeans and a hoodie from Green Day’s Revolution Radio tour, and his trusty floral shoes. He didn’t match at all, but it didn’t really matter to him. Tyler wouldn’t be singing today, so he saw no reason to dress fancy. 

 

He was lost in his world of his own music the whole way there, pretending like he was in his own little music video as he stared out the car window. Tyler stuffed his earbuds back into his pocket once him and Zack arrived, and they approached the building side by side. The normal glances were shot towards Tyler as he walked through the front doors with Zack, and he felt like he was being watched. Plenty of parents knew him by name, caused by the pretty large amount of gossip that traveled like wildfire among the adults. Tyler ignored it, taking a pamphlet containing the papers needed for the lesson from one of the greeters. Once they had sat down, Zack asked him if he wanted anything to eat. Tyler declined, his attention elsewhere. He was utterly in shock to see a very familiar pink hue sitting with what looked to be his family. 

 

Tyler rose to his knees in his chair, attempting to peek over the tables in front of him in order to get a clearer view. Just as he found him, the boy turned his head and made eye contact with Tyler for barely a quarter of a second. Tyler panicked, shooting back down in his chair and trying to look as normal as possible as quickly as possible. After a few seconds, Tyler was able to calm his nerves enough to sneak another look over the tables of people and try to find the pink haired boy. To his surprise, the boy was nowhere to be seen. Tyler raised himself a little higher in his chair, glancing around and scanning the whole room thoroughly. 

 

He flinched hard when he felt a hand on his shoulder, whipping around in confusion. Tyler could have melted right then and there in embarrassment, as the one he was looking for was standing right in front of him now. “I heard what happened, and I wanted to say that I’m really sorry about it. It’s super stupid that people actually treat each other like that.” The pink hue said, his voice actually quite genuine. At first, Tyler thought he was joking, but as the seconds dragged on of him waiting for a response, Tyler realized that it wasn’t a joke. 

 

Blushing with shame, Tyler smiled meekly. “Everyone has heard.. and thanks I guess.” He responded in a mumble. He definitely didn’t want to speak to one of Mikey’s goons, especially when they were present during the first altercation. Everything about the interaction felt fake. Of course though, Tyler didn’t word any of his thoughts. 

 

The boy smiled as well, amused at how much the brunette was blushing. Tyler felt ten times as self-conscious under that stare. It was probably just his nerves acting up again. 

 

“Do you sing for the choir?” 

 

Tyler sighed to himself when the boy sat down, obviously wanting to start a conversation. The last thing that Tyler wanted was to speak to him. “Yeah.. Every other week.” He responded, his voice quiet with boredom. Bouncing his leg anxiously, Tyler caught eye contact. Without words, they were still having a conversation. Bedroom eyes met his, and Tyler could feel his face heating up once more.

 

“What’s your name?” The pink hue murmured, a small smile twitching at his lips.

 

Tyler swallowed thickly, swinging his legs absentmindedly. “Tyler. Tyler Joseph.” He replied tartly, anxiety swelling in his throat as he spoke to this stranger that Gerard had warned him of. There was nothing wrong with a little bit of friendly conversation, right? Nothing at all.

 

“I’m Josh. Joshua Dun.” The other boy said.

 

“I thought you’d know me. Since you’re friends with Mikey..” Tyler muttered, an obvious tinge of salt graining his voice. 

 

Josh frowned. “Yeah.. they’re kind of assholes, though.”

 

Tyler perked up a little, finding something that he could agree with. “That’s a bit of an understatement. More like super extra fucking pricks.” He snickered, biting his finger to suppress the laughter that almost snaked from his mouth. 

 

Josh covered his mouth, grinning as he tried not to laugh either. Tyler was caught up in how angelic that pink haired boy’s laugh was, and the adorable way his eyes crinkled a little when he laughed. It was wonderful to admire. He had to snap himself out of it, realizing that he was at church and shouldn’t be having thoughts like this. He shouldn’t be thinking of Josh like that in general. Gerard’s warning was very harsh, and he knew that it would be a bad idea not to follow the advice. Not once had Gerard been wrong. 

 

“I have to agree with that. I just don’t want them to hate me, so I just kind of.. go along with it. Mikey knew me from elementary school as well, so he took me under his wing once I moved back to Columbus.” Josh explained, guilt heavy in his voice. He sounded exactly like Tyler once had been, the exact same situation. He had been Gerard’s best friend since kindergarten, and this earned him a spot in Mikey’s hierarchy of teen royalty. However, this had been changed with the simple choice that Tyler made to step up and point out Mikey’s cruel ways. That had ruined everything all at once.

 

“Yeah. I get it. It’s better to be a bystander than a victim.” Tyler said quietly, glancing down at his folded hands on the table. He felt a fresh wave of awkwardness wash over him. Tyler had no idea what to say really. He felt put on the spot. 

 

As if his prayers were answered, Zack came walking towards the table with a blueberry muffin in one hand. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw someone he didn’t recognize at the table. “Hey, Ty, who’s this?” Zack asked, his brow furrowed.

 

“Oh uh.. just a school friend. He-”

 

“I play drums for the church band. I just pass Tyler sometimes in the hallway, talk sometimes. I saw him here and it kind of surprised me. Usually I don’t see many people from school here.” Josh explained with a smile. 

 

Zack glanced over at Tyler, and almost immediately Tyler understood the question.  _ No.  _ Tyler mouthed angrily, shaking his head. The older Joseph snorted with laughter, sitting down at the table and taking a bite of his blueberry muffin. “Cool. Tyler doesn’t really have any friends anyway so I’m surprised.” He said, voice lilted with humor.

 

“Zack!” Tyler scolded, the tips of his ears red with shame. “I do have friends!”

 

Josh chuckled. “I see. Well service is about to start but I’ll talk to you later, okay?” He said.

 

Flustered and a little bit embarrassed, Tyler nodded, tossing a sour look at his older brother before meeting Josh’s mocha eyes. “Yeah. See you later..” He muttered, defeated. Once Josh had left back to his own family, Tyler punched Zack as hard as he could on his leg under the table. 

 

“OW! What was that for?” 

 

“For you being embarrassing.” 

 

“We’re in church, this isn’t the time to be finding a man.”

 

“Oh fuck off.”

**✗**

  
  


 

“My brother canceled my therapy this week and I’m still pissed. Like seriously,  _ I need that shit _ . Would he rather have me dead?” Tyler grumbled, rolling over on his back and kicking his legs in the air. Even through the phone, Gerard could tell the gravity of the situation. There was a faint sigh on the other side of the line.

 

“No. Tyler, don’t talk like that. Didn’t he say that he just didn’t have the money this week? It’s not his fault that your parents didn’t send enough.” Gerard responded, “You should blame your deadbeat parents instead of him.”

 

Tyler sighed angrily, knowing that Gerard was right. It was hard to understand that when he just wanted to take out his anger on someone. Usually he could take it out on his poor therapist, but that wasn’t the case today. “He’s still a prick. I get that he does his best but if he didn’t spend so much on cigarettes and shitty alcohol for him and his friends he’d have more money to use for what it’s meant to be for.  _ Me _ .” Tyler retorted sharply, “Its still half of his fault.” 

 

There was a huge thump downstairs, making Tyler jump and nearly drop his phone. “What was that?” Gerard asked curiously. It was definitely loud, loud enough for even the phone to pick it up. “Are you okay?” He repeated, sounding a little concerned.

 

“Yeah I’m fine. That wasn’t me.” Tyler’s voice lowered into a whisper. He had seen too many horror movies to know where this was going. Tyler went into The Walking Dead mode and reached under his bed. He hadn’t told Zack, but he had stolen a baseball bat from the garage and kept it under his bed for ‘reasons’. Flipping his hoodie around, Tyler placed the phone in the backwards hood so it was in front of him and freed up his hands. Holding the wooden bat in swinging position, Tyler slowly crept out of his room and down the stairs. He was light enough to where they didn’t creak, which was one of the other advantages to being so small like him. Gerard was quiet on the other line, listening carefully to every noise just as much as Tyler was. Tyler tiptoed into the living room at the foot of the stairs, glancing in both directions. 

 

There was a muffled noise coming from somewhere, but it wasn’t exactly easy to point it out. Within a few moments, his question as to where the noise was coming from was answered. A feminine sounding moan ripped through the thin walls of the house, and Tyler rolled his eyes. Lowering his bat and giving a disgusted sigh, Tyler hustled back upstairs. Of course it had to be whatever Zack and his slutty girl of the week did when he thought Tyler wasn’t home. It was revolting enough to think of, but now he could  _ hear  _ it. That’s where he drew the line. He hustled back up to his room and grabbed a drawstring bag, tossing a clean pair of underwear and a pajama shirt in there. It was really all he needed when he went to Gerard’s. 

 

“I’m coming over. I can’t be in this house for any longer tonight.” Tyler grumbled under his breath, grabbing his school binder as he slid on his shoes. 

 

Understanding what had probably just happened, Gerard chuckled lightly. “Of course. I’ll tell my mom to order pizza.” He responded.

 

Tyler said a quick goodbye and hung up, shoving his phone in his pocket and quickly tugging the charger out of the wall. Once he had gathered his stuff, Tyler made sure to shut his door and hurried down the stairs. There was no noise in the house as he walked out. Tyler put in his earbuds as he began to walk in the direction of Gerard’s house. 

 

About ten minutes later, he was able to spot the house in the distance. He felt more at home in Gerard’s house than he did in his own, and honestly it was quite sad. Sometimes he wished that things could have been different, but he’d have to work with what he had.

 

“Honey, I’m home!” Tyler called out jokingly, opening the front door and stepping inside the house. He was greeted almost immediately by the family dog, a large yellow lab who was ironically named Smokie. Stopping to sit on the floor and pet her, Tyler heard someone walking down the stairs. Glancing up, Tyler recognized that it was Gerard’s mom. She smiled sweetly.

 

“Hi, sweetheart. Have you had dinner yet?” Donna asked, “I’m assuming you’re staying over as well.” She added, glancing at Tyler’s bag that was still on his back.

 

“Y-yeah.. I hope you don’t mind.” Tyler responded nervously, burying his face into Smokie’s dense shoulder fur. “I haven’t had dinner yet..” He added with a small smile, standing up from petting the friendly lab. 

 

“Of course I don’t mind. You’re welcome any time, honey.” Donna responded, “Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes. I’ll come get you two when it’s done.” She left to go back to the kitchen, leaving Tyler still sitting on the floor with a big lab in his lap. 

 

He heaved himself to his feet, calling for Smokie to follow him up the stairs. With the dog on his heels, Tyler rushed into Gerard’s room, making sure to close the door behind him. Gerard was sitting in his bed, Macbook in lap watching something on Netflix. As soon as Tyler came in the room, he closed the tab, a nervous blush rising on his cheeks. “Did I walk in on something here?” Tyler snickered, raising an eyebrow suggestively as he plopped down beside Gerard. 

 

“Shut up. It’s none of your business what I watch in my free time.” The red-head responded, gently tossing it onto his desk and out of Tyler’s reach. 

 

“Let me guess,” Tyler rolled onto his stomach, “ _ Atypical _ binge?”

 

Gerard was silent for a second.

 

“Fuck off man.”


End file.
